Freshman enrollment sets another record

Bellarmine continued to grow at an astonishing pace, setting another record freshman enrollment this fall. The university welcomed 684 freshmen in August, by far the largest class in Bellarmine’s history, according to dean of undergraduate admission Tim Sturgeon.

The full-time freshman students come from 23 states and four countries, with 74% from outside the Louisville area. They’re sharp cookies, too, with an average GPA of 3.51 and an average ACT of 24.6. For those of you keeping stats at home, there’s a 60-40 female to male ratio and 5.3% are BU legacies. Total campus enrollment this fall is 3,411.

Campus is a beehive of activity, too, with a whopping 1,112 residential students this fall, including 521 freshmen living on campus.

Of the freshman class, 39% are enrolled in cohort-based learning communities, including the Brown Leadership Community, the Eureka Learning Community (STEM), the Galileo Learning Community (health sciences) and the Honors Program.Thirty-six percent of freshmen are first-generation college students.

The huge freshman enrollment crushed the previous record of 606 set last year. So, why the big jump? “During the last two years, we’ve focused on recruiting regionally,” said Mr. Sturgeon. “The goal was to generate interest from more students from areas that have been successful for us or had great potential. The university also began marketing in these areas to augment the admission office efforts.

“At the same time, we’ve invested in our visit program. We believe the visit experience has been greatly enhanced by the trolley, which takes prospective students through the Highlands,” he said.

Please note: This issue went to print a few weeks before the official “census day.” The final official campus census numbers, which are used for accreditation and other purposes, could vary slightly from the ones mentioned above. –Editor